Everything is Better With a Hint of Pepper
by buzzlikebee19
Summary: "I would have thought your name would be Dot, to match those beautiful freckles on your face."…"Yeah, well get too close to them without my permission and you'll be calling me Pepper." AU, first meeting story
1. Chapter 1

Title:

Author: Buzzlikebee19

Pairing: Tony Stark/Pepper Potts

Warning: Mentions of carnal relations

Rating:T

Disclaimer: I do not own Iron Man or Pepperony. Thusly, I am enduring six months of hell until IM3

Summary: . "I would have thought your name would be Dot, to match those beautiful freckles on your face."…"Yeah, well get too close to them without my permission and you'll be calling me Pepper."

A/N: It's not often I'm really proud of something, but I'm really proud of the start of this story. There will be more!

The music of the club was thumping inside his head as he twisted his way through the crush of bodies to make his way to the bar. Spying a place near the bartender, he effortlessly avoided two girls with varying degrees of too much make-up and arrived at his destination. He held up a ten dollar bill and the bartender made a bee-line for him. It was good to be Tony Stark sometimes.

"What kind of drunk do you want to be tonight?" The man asked without hesitation. Tony liked that, the guy was forward. But he wasn't planning on getting too drunk just yet. A shot would suffice.

"Just a brandy. I want to be able to pick up chicks while I remember how."

"I hear that. Here's your drink."

Tony spoke a word of thanks and knocked back his shot before he and the bartender went back to ignoring each other. He leaned with his back against the bar and started surveying the scene. The lights were low and the people were getting drunker by the second. So, a typical Saturday night out. He started feeling his shot and decided that it was time to go fishing. As he walked towards the ocean of the dance floor he faintly heard the bartender calling out a gin and tonic.

For a while it was fun, grinding, touching, and being touched back by the women that were enjoying themselves with the same prerogative as him: "get laid." It felt good to be wanted and to do some wanting in return, but after a while he started feeling tired. Right as he was getting off the floor, someone grabbed his hand and pulled him back in.

"Hey, I'm done for now, sorry," Tony wanted to say, but as he turned, the red-head that had accosted him made a slightly pleading face.

"Come on, just one dance? I saw you out there, and I think you might be just as good as me," she explained with a smirk.

"Is that a challenge?"

"Only if you want it to be," she shot back, proceeding to lead him the rest of the way to the dance floor.

She was good, he had to admit, and while they danced with each other he thought about what it might be like to dance with her in another fashion. There was no denying it, he was more turned on than he had been the entire night. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner, he thought to himself. He turned around and asked her name.

"Virginia, but my friends call me Gin, cuz it's my favorite drink."

"That's an old man drink. But I like that. I would have thought your name would be Dot, to match those beautiful freckles on your face."

"Yeah, well get too close to them without my permission and you'll be calling me Pepper."

"And why's that?"

"Because of this," She whispered teasingly in his ear, and slid her hand down in between them, bringing it back up to his chest with something small clutched in it. He looked down and saw a miniaturized can of pepper-spray, with the nozzle pointed straight at him. He instinctively jumped back.

"Christ! Oh, shit, you scared me," Tony managed as she started to laugh, and he found himself joining in on her mirth at his expense. "You're something else Pepper. Come on, let me buy you a drink."

The next morning, Tony woke up with a pounding in his head that wasn't unlike that of the club music the night before. His mouth was dry, and his whole body hurt. He scrubbed a hand across his face and began to take stock of his surroundings. He was in his own bed, and that was good. He was naked, which was usual for him, and that fact was unsurprising. The other side of the bed was empty, but there was a depression in the pillow. So he had a girl with him last night. He sat up and tried to remember her name. Patty? No, that was a fat girl name. Penelope? No, still not right.

He glanced towards the foot of the bed and saw the girl's shoes, jacket and purse, laying slightly open with what looked like a little can sticking out of it. Pepper! That was her name. Yes, Pepper. She was quite the vixen, dancing with him, then almost threatening him with pepper spray. They had gone back to the bar and had a few shots, before coming back to his place and getting to know each other intimately. The sex was great, and he got to find out that Pepper was a natural red-head.

He smiled at the memory of last night, then his smile got even bigger as the scent of coffee wafted into his nose. After making a brief bathroom stop, he pulled on a pair of shorts and walked out into the rest of the apartment.

He went to the kitchen so fast that he didn't notice that Pepper was at the dining room table until after he got his coffee. Mug in hand, he padded over to where she was and looked over her shoulder to see that she was writing on one of his work reports, of all things.

"Uh, Pepper? What are you doing?"

She looked over her shoulder for a moment before returning to her task and speaking. "I know I shouldn't pry, but you got this fax while I was making coffee. Sorry." She had said the words, but she didn't sound all that remorseful.

"But why are you writing on the financial reports?"

"These numbers are wrong. I don't know who you have doing your books, but they are seriously fucking up." She handed him the papers so he could see for himself. He was skeptical at first, but after looking at it clearly (and a couple sips of coffee), he noticed the error.

"Well I'll be damned. I should have checked this more thoroughly when they sent them the first time. You just saved me about nine-thousand dollars."

"I know," she said with a little smirk, turning to him.

Tony took in her smug look, reminiscing having her on top of him with that same look. He put down his coffee cup and leaned closer to her, playing with a strand of her hair.

"You know, my office has just now found an opening in our financial department. We have health insurance and everything. And that's only part of our employee benefit _package,_" He intoned deeply, his eyebrows saying 'if you know what I mean,' so he didn't have to.

She gave him a calculating look and moved to lean against the table. It was glass, but it was also 4 inches thick, so he wasn't worried about it. "You're serious?" she questioned as she stroked her fingers across one of his thighs

"Yeah, I actually am." And through the haze of his arousal Tony was slightly surprised to find that he was. He swallowed and spoke again. "So what do you think? You can come in tomorrow and we can do this formally if that's what you need." Did he sound too desperate? He hoped not. Nobody wants to work with a guy that was too eager. Pepper only smiled and stood up to get a little closer to his height.

"How about we make a deal. If you can get me to climax in the next twenty minutes, I'll come in to your office."

His eyebrows shot up, but he quickly transformed that into a smirk to match Peppers. 'Don't let 'em see you sweat, Stark'. "It's a deal." He kissed her and backed her up towards the table. When her backside bumped into it she moaned a little, which gave him the opening to lift and separate her legs so that she was sitting on the table with him between her.

"Let's consider this," he paused and kissed her again, "part of the interview process."


	2. Chapter 2

Virginia stood outside of the building that spelled out in large letters "**STARK SATELLITES**". It seemed like a normal enough office building, and she walked up to the door. She hesitated before opening it. She had gotten an email from Stark yesterday with some information on the company. It seemed to be not only a legit package, but a respectable career move from being a low-level accountant at a tax firm. She should have been running into the office and agreeing to whatever terms she was given. But it wasn't every day you interview for a job with a one night stand. She spent a few more moments weighing the pros and cons of her situation, before looking at her watch and realizing she was a lot closer to being late than she thought. She finally opened the door and Virginia was greeted with the sight of a small foyer, and an entry way to her immediate right. "No going back now," she thought to herself. Entering the main office, Virginia walked straight to the desk in the middle and addressed the older looking woman sitting there.

"May I help you?" the woman asked with a slight attitude over her glasses.

"I have an appointment with Mr. Stark," Virginia stated clearly.

"Hold on," the woman said picking up the receiver. While she dialed a few numbers, Virginia looked around the rest of the main room. It was spacious, sparsely furnished with a few desks geometrically placed throughout the room. There were a few doors off to the left, probably the offices.

"Mr. Stark will see you now," the secretary spoke up, snapping Virginia out of her trance. She looked at the secretary and noticed she was pointing to a door behind her to her right, with '**T. STARK**' on it in gold letters. Virginia thanked the woman and walked over to Stark's door, knocking lightly before entering. The office was much smaller than she imagined, which she took note of as Stark, suit and tie clad, shuffled around his desk to shake her hand.

"I've been expecting you. Did you find the place okay?" he asked, sounding more concerned than he looked.

"Yes. I've been to this area before, but never in this neighborhood."

He smirked. "Well, now that you're here, let's get down and dirty." He took his seat and gestured to the seat on the other side of his desk. "So Pepper, what do you know about Stark Satellites?"

Virginia reached into her bag as she made her reply. "About as much as you know about me, I'm afraid. My name is Virginia. Virginia Potts."

"Seriously?"

"Completely," she said, handing him her resume. "The proof's right there."

"Dammit, you're right. Well of course you are, you should know your own name," he said with a hint of accusation, scanning over her document.

"I'd like to think so."

He stopped talking then, looking over her resume in earnest. He gave a few appreciative hums as he flipped the pages. Virginia tried not to feel awkward, but her brain in that moment connected his noises with the ones he was making a few nights ago. She was thankful he was looking down, because she could feel herself blushing. She composed herself with a few deep breaths, and managed to look slightly normal by the time Stark looked back up at her.

"Well Virginia. Virginia? I don't like that. Do you like that name?"

She raised her eyebrows, but answered him anyway. "My friends call me Gin."

"Hmm…Gin…Gin-ger….I don't like that either. I'm gonna keep calling you Pepper."

Was this guy for real? "What?" she replied lamely. This was not standard conversation for a job interview.

"Yeah I like that better. Pepper fits you, and you _are_ spicy," he said, the last three words spoken with a deeper inflection, paired with what Virginia could only describe as 'bedroom eyes'. "Pepper it is!"

"Uh, shouldn't I have a say in this?" Virginia asked, not knowing what else to say.

"You did the other night remember? When we danced! So technically you came up with it." Stark smiled at her, a big grin that stretched his face out and made him look like a little boy, and Virginia could only stare.

"So, Pepper, back to the interview."

Oh yeah. Suddenly Virginia was thinking she may have made a mistake. "Yeah, about the job, listen-"

"I'd like you to start right away, and we'll salary you starting at say…40k? It's not much to start, but I figure you could use it."

He talked so fast that by the time Virginia's brain had finished processing '40k' and 'salary' and realized she'd been insulted, Stark was already on his next point.

"So let me give you a little information about Stark Satellites. Of course, you know about Stark Industries, weapons manufacturers. That's my father's company. We're a branch of SI, but we're more specialized in intent. For every missile that Stark Industries creates that requires radar technology, we secure and manage the operation of its satellite. We work with NASA and SI to make sure that everything goes according to plan, in addition to handling the financial side of satellite rental. We're working with some big numbers, as you've seen. This also means that we can't afford to have anyone fucking up our books with careless mistakes. You've already shown me that you have exceptional accounting skills, and your resume backs it up. You're going to have your work cut out for you Potts, I hope you're ready for it."

Virginia sat speechless. This was a good job, and she knew it, but this situation was beyond weird. And why was Stark talking like she was his employee already? "Who says I'm accepting the job?"

"Oh, you're accepting the job. Or do you really want to work at Jackson-Hewitt the rest of your life?" Stark gave her a look that exuded confidence in his claim. He was kind of an asshole, she realized. A good looking one, too. She didn't want to admit it to herself, but he was right, and though she didn't want to give him the satisfaction, she didn't want him to change his mind either.

"Okay, I'll accept the job."

"Excellent, I'll have your contract drawn up in about two business days," he said extending a hand towards her to shake. She accepted it, with her thanks. Still holding on to her hand, he began to talk again.

"So Pepper, now that we've gotten that out of the way, how about we celebrate with a little lunch?" He took her hand to his lips and kissed it. "On me, of course, unless _you'd _prefer to be on me."

Virginia rolled her eyes and gently took her hand away. "I don't prefer to mix business with pleasure," she said, gathering her things and reaching for the door handle. "But you can buy me lunch, and we can talk…_positions _after hours." She swiftly exited the office, not having to turn around to know that Stark was following her.

"You know, hot Peppers are my favorite kind," Stark whispered to her, making her laugh on the way to his car.


End file.
